Gig Economy Workers: Financial Services and Benefits Trends and Opportunities

Report Overview

Welcome to the Gig Economy, where independent work arrangements, temporary and/or on-demand employment trends, working more than one “gig” at one time, globalization, digitization, work-at-home trends, and the gradual loss of employment benefits have converged to significantly impact the nature of employee-employer relationships and spur evolving ways to meet their needs.

For market participants, the first challenge concerns identifying which employed individuals are members of the Gig Economy and how to define who they are—especially when many have argued that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has under-represented the number of Gig Economy workers—and as reported by the Wall Street Journal (January 7, 2019)—questions regarding its impact are not settled.

Indeed, the pool of employed persons affected by Gig Economy trends is as narrow or wide as the definitions applied.

What's in This Report?

The Financial Services Market: Targeting Gig Economy Workers helps solve that riddle by providing several ways to measure Gig Economy employment, which vary in scope, including the Non-Benefit Worker, The Side Gig Worker, Second Jobbers, and Microbusiness Employees, as well as Those Working for Others vs. Those Working for Self, including Consultant/Contractors and Self-Employed Sole Proprietors.

By one analyzed measure, in a given month, U.S. adults complete more than 300 million paid assignments, underscoring not only the breadth of gig-related employment but the related opportunities to serve this shifting employment landscape. Report analysis substantiates the growth of key gig-related employment trends over time and provided related demographic insights (ranging from age and household income to occupation and marital/spousal work arrangements). The report also identifies market opportunities related to alternative financial services, tax services and related financial management tools, prepaid cards, and workforce management solutions.

This report identifies and analyzes members of the Gig Economy, a term characterized by independent work arrangements, temporary and/or on-demand employment trends, working more than one “gig” at one time, globalization, digitization, work-at-home trends, and the gradual loss of employment benefits. The report also identifies market opportunities related to alternative financial services, tax services and related financial management tools, prepaid cards, and workforce management solutions.

Packaged Facts provides several ways to measure Gig Economy employment and related benefits trends, which vary in scope:

• Non-Benefit Workers. The broadest definition in this report, a non-benefit worker is employed by someone else but does not receive paid employment benefits.
• Side Gig Workers. Side Gig Workers are defined in this report as adults who have been paid for occasional work activities or side jobs that fall outside of activities performed as part of their main jobs.
• Working for Self. This report includes three types of “self-employed” workers: self-employed/sole-proprietors, partners in partnerships, and consultant/contractors.
• Consultants/Contractors. These adults work for themselves in the capacity of consultant/contractors, most commonly characterized as 1099-MISC workers.
• Self-Employed Sole Proprietors. Self-employed sole proprietors work for themselves in a company where they are the only employee.
• Second Jobbers. Second Jobbers are those who have a second job in addition to their main job. Some overlap may exist between Second Jobbers and Side Gig Workers; however, second jobs include traditional part-time positions that are not included as side gigs.
• Microbusiness Employees. These adults work for companies having between 1-4 employees.